Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; Email:[email protected] ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
Vol.7.Issue 1. 2019 (Jan-Mar)
322 Dr. MANISHA DWIVEDI
REINVENTION OF THE SELF : IN BHARATI MUKHERJEE’S “MISS NEW INDIA”
Dr. MANISHA DWIVEDI Head, Deptt. of English , Dr. C.V. Raman University, Kargi Road, Kota, Bilaspur, (Chhatishgarh), India
doi: https://doi.org/10.33329/rjelal.7119.322 ABSTRACT Bharati Mukherjee (1940) has been a dominant writer of Indian origin, in her
writings, rewarded importance to the condition of the Indian woman immigrants.
Her stories are about psychological transformation, especially for women
immigrant. Miss New India is a novel full of contrasts; the contrast between the old
and the new, between dedication to family and dedication to self. The protagonist
Anjali, who prepared to call herself by the more modern Angie, was torn between a
life described by traditional rituals and a life of independence in the glowingcity of
Bangalore. Angie begins to throw off her old traditional way and gave birth to her
new identity. In order to, “make it”, Angie will need to re-invent herself in ways she
never dreamed of. This theme of re-invention of the self is a main theme in this
novel.
Keywords: Traditional rituals, Immigrants, Reinvention, Modernization,
Transformation
.
Introduction
A journey theme’s is a story in which the
main theme is of discovery. Here, in this novel Miss
New India refers to the psychological journey of
Anjali Bose from Miss Anjali Bose to Miss New India.
Anjali Bose is the representative of Miss New India.
In Miss New India novel, Bharati Mukherjee presents
both old and New India. Old India in the sense of full
restrictions and responsibilities. Anjali Bose’s sister
Sonali is representative of old India. She is married a
man chosen by her father. Her husband is a
drunkard and leaves her with a daughter. Sonali lives
as a single mother and works as a typist for her
daughter survival. Anjali Bose is a representative of
New India because she crosses the boundaries of
traditional taboos and holdly come out of wedlock
and family into a new one which she considers as
bright, happy and sense of pride. S. Sujaritha and N.
Chandra rightly says, A reading of Mukherjee’s
works chronologically reveals the transformations
the underwent and her experiences in the new land
(145).Like Bharati Mukherjee, her heroine, Anjali
Bose had a lot of experiences both sweet and bitter.
Indianness to Miss New India –
Anjali Bose is a beautiful girl of 19 and a
daughter of a Bengali Railway clerk. She is tall,
beautiful and attractive. She completed B.Com.
Through Anjali Bose, Bharati Mukherjee points the
life of young woman in India’s new technologically
oriented society. India gives more importance to
society, family and rituals. In Mukherjee’s words
family wedding and funerals are the indisputable
duties and rituals of Indian life. (Miss New India,
7).For her father, marriage was a sacred duty.
SubodhMitra is a suitor selected for Anjali by her
father. But she was raped by him before marriage.
Anjali Bose shocked by this incident and decides to
leave her home to do something different in her
career with the help of her teacher named, Peter
Champion she leaves Gauripur and reaches
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Dr. MANISHA DWIVEDI
Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; Email:[email protected] ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
Vol.7.Issue 1. 2019 (Jan-Mar)
323 Dr. MANISHA DWIVEDI
Bangalore. At first Bangalore excited her but later
she is depressed.’’ (Miss New India – 97). To Anjali
‘’a job is the key to happiness.’’ She calculated that a
job brings respect and power but money brings
transformation. Here also, Anjali transforms herself
from a girl of Gauripur to woman of Bangalore. In
Bangalore she noticed the changes in her life
Miss New India gives a picture of India as we have
never truly seen it before, as country up-to-date –
and as traditional – as many places in the world.
Mukherjee employs a very classic plot : A village girl
goes to big city that throws off the old traditional
ways and discovers her new identity – as modern
girl with American accent, this transformation is also
represented through change of her name from
Anjali – to Angie. Anjali feels as though she is ‘’part
of the bold India, and equal to anywhere, a land
poised for take–off.’’
The title Miss New India is very significant.
Here Mukherjee depicts the picture of two different
India – first one which she realize in her early
childhood like full of restrictions and social bondage
and one which is at present where there is a lot of
opportunities for a woman to grow and make
identity for herself. In ‘old India’ women are
restricted to four walls of houses and do not cross
the border lines or ‘laxmanrekha’ of manners and
morality linked with patriarchal society. But in the
novel ‘Miss New India’, these two facets of old India
and New India have been discussed explicitly. Sonali
Das, Anjali’s sister represented as the traditional
women of old India who has been married with a
man chosen by her father and Anjali Bose, the
protagonist represented as the woman of New India
who throws off all her traditional barriers but
crosses the boundaries of her house to the
exceptional limits of the society to make her future
bright and vibrant . Through Miss New India
Mukherjee reveals to all American readers a similar
truth about India, with similar effect – as she herself
has experienced in her young age in America. Of
course, the seductive pull of life in the New India
does not come without a dark side. It sets for
freedom of the confines of class, cast and gender. It
is not only about struggle but about re-inventing of
the self. The portrait of social change in India
provides food for thought . The title Miss New India
is very significant. Here Mukherjee depicts the
picture of two different India – first one which she
realize in her early childhood like full of restrictions
and social bondage and one which is at present
where there is a lot of opportunities for a woman to
grow and make identity for herself. In ‘old India’
women are restricted to four walls of houses and do
not cross the border lines or ‘laxmanrekha’ of
etiquettes and morality linked with patriarchal
society. But in the novel ‘Miss New India’, these two
facets of old India and New India have been
discussed explicitly. Sonali Das, Anjali’s sister
represented as the traditional women of old India
who has been married with a man chosen by her
father and Anjali Bose, the protagonist represented
as the woman of New India who throws off all her
traditional barriers but crosses the boundaries of
her house to the exceptional limits of the society to
make her future bright and vibrant .The
conventional form of Indian feminity projects itself
through long-lashed koht-rimmed, started black
eyes. Modest women know to glance upward from a
slightly bowed head. Anjali did not take the world
with saucer eyed passivity (3).Through Miss New
India Mukherjee reveals to all American readers a
similar truth about India, with similar effect – as she
herself has experienced in her young age in America.
Of course, the seductive pull of life in the New India
does not come without a dark side. It sets for
freedom of the confines of class, cast and gender. It
is not only about struggle but about re-inventing of
the self. The portrait of social change in India
provides food for thought.
New Miss India is, therefore, a rendering of
the experience of culture shock and dilemma of
Anjali Bose who encounters India’s juxtaposed
culture when she undertakes a journey from
Gauripur to Bangalore to accomplish her ambitions.
Anjali understands that the culture of every country
is shaped by its own set of ideas and myths, food
and clothing habits, education and value systems
but within every country one can experience the
cultural nuances while moving from rural to urban,
from small town to big metropolis or megacities.
Gauripur and Bangalore, with all their cultural and
social differences, bring together the two separate
worlds of tradition and modernity, status quo and
Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL) A Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal
Impact Factor 6.8992 (ICI) http://www.rjelal.com; Email:[email protected] ISSN:2395-2636 (P); 2321-3108(O)
Vol.7.Issue 1. 2019 (Jan-Mar)
324 Dr. MANISHA DWIVEDI
change within the nations. To survive this change,
one needs the spunk and the girt.
Conclusion :
Anjali has been a role model to many Indian
girls, who are eager to achieve great. In the
metropolis, high-tech city, Anjali undergoes many
bitter and better experiences and finally re-invents
herself. The struggle and liberation of an Indian girl
is well pictured by Bharati Mukherjee in her novel
Miss New India. Unlike earlier novels, which
highlight the transnational migration concerns, New
Miss India explores the trend of internal or domestic
migration and reverse migration. In dealing with
these issues, the novel represents a departure from
her previous novels.
WORKS CITED
Primary Source
[1]. Mukherjee, Bharati. Miss New India. New
Delhi: Rupa Publications India, 2012.
Secondary Source
[1]. Agarwal, Malti. ed., English Literature:
Voices of Indian Diaspora. New Delhi:
Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 2009.
[2]. Alam, Fakrul. “Migration and Settlement in
North America in BharatiMukherjee‟s
Fiction”. Asian American Writing: Vol. 2
Fiction. Ed. Somdatta Mandel. New Delhi:
Prestige Books, 2000. 61- 82.
[3]. Aswathi, Kamal N. ed., Contemporary
Indian English Fiction: An Anthology of
Essays. Jalandar: ABS Publications, 1993.